Notes and Editorial Reviews

Unlike Universal’s only fitfully excellent Ravel box, this Debussy Edition of the almost complete works has no weak spots. Puzzlingly, the Saxophone Rhapsody is missing, and so are L’Enfant prodigue (except for one aria) and La Damoiselle élue, among other items, but all of the other significant works are included, and in very fine performances. Here is the rundown:

For the orchestral works, you get the two Boulez/Cleveland discs, which are about as good as it gets. For those items that Boulez didn’t do, there are Chailly (Khamma), Hatink (Dances for harp, March écossaise), and Ansermet (The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian–with Suzanne Danco–and La Boite à joujoux). In the Piano Fantasy, althoughRead more DG might have chosen Kocsis, who does most of the shorter piano works, we get instead Jean-Rudolphe Kars with Gibson and the LSO, an enterprising if thinly recorded choice (sound sample).

In the piano music, Zimerman takes the Préludes, Uchida the Études, and Michelangeli the Images and Children’s Corner (as mentioned, Kocsis has the rest). These are all top recommendations. The Kontarsky brothers’ classic traversal of the four-hand and two piano music is included, as well as the Melos Quartet in the String Quartet, Dumay/Pires in the Violin Sonata, and Argerich Maisky in the Cello Sonata. These are all famous names, but I do wish the wonderful disc featuring the Boston Symphony Chamber Players had been chosen instead–a purely personal preference, especially in the Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp.

Finally, in the vocal works, soprano Véronique Dietschy sings the Mélodies very beautifully (second sample), while Abbado’s recording of Pelléas et Mélisande, with Maria Ewing in the title role, is also one of the best modern versions. In sum, this set really does offer a terrific way to get all the basic Debussy you need, with a couple of small exceptions, in a single box containing uniformly superior performances. Well done!